Some do, however, spend their first hour meditating, exercising and/or visualizing their days.

Others work on the biggest project of the day so it's behind them and the little stuff can get accomplished in between meetings and calls.

And yet others, such as Craig Newmark (the founder of Craigslist), spend their first hour on customer service — putting out fires, managing complaints and responding to customers on both Craigslist and the boards.

My First Hour

I always spend my first hour writing. I don't turn on email or the social networks or even music. Because a good portion of my job requires uninterrupted writing and thinking, that's the time I get it accomplished.

Of course, that also means that I start my day between 5 and 5:30 every morning and that I'm really ready to start my day around 7:30.

When we had an office (we went completely virtual in November, as a test), the first hour was always spent writing the day's blog post and then I'd ride my bike. But this year, my New Year's resolution was FOCUS, and that included taking a break after I had been sitting at my desk for six or seven hours. So now I ride at noon.

Your First Hour

But, Gini, I'll hear some of you say, I don't own a company or I don't have that kind of flexibility or I can't get up that early or I'm not a morning person or about a zillion other excuses.

When I worked at Rhea & Kaiser, the receptionist sat at the front desk and "clocked" you in each morning. We were to be there by 8:30, but for some reason (even though I lived less than 10 minutes away), I could not, for the life of me, get there before 8:45.

I used to go round and round with Steve Rhea because I was always there until 8 p.m. or later and I did a ton of travel with clients that didn't get counted in that extra 15 minutes I felt I had to use for sleeping instead of getting to work on time. "But I'm not a morning person," I'd whine to him.

Perhaps he created the 5 a.m. monster, but 10 years later, my brain rarely functions past 6 p.m., but I get a ton accomplished before noon.

My point is, you can be a morning person. You can create your own flexibility. You can tackle your biggest project of the day, from home. You can choose not to get into your email until later.

It doesn't matter if you own the joint or not. It's what allows you to be productive, and any boss will be happy with your system if you're productive.

So. . .how do you spend your first hour each day?

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Gini Dietrich is founder and chief executive officer of Arment Dietrich Inc., a Chicago-based firm that uses non-traditional marketing in a digital world. Her column appears on Crain's blog for Chicago entrepreneurs every Friday.